VEGAS
by KatBauer
Summary: An AU where skyeward gets drunk and gets married in Vegas. [Part 1 of the Married in Vegas AU]
1. Chapter 1

"I've never been to Vegas before," Skye says. "This is _so cool_."

Ward grumbles something that sounds a lot like 'no, it's not' but Skye is too busy squealing around to actually pay much attention to him or his grumpiness.

The hotel lobby is enough to leave her gaping, what with the gigantic marble fountain right in the middle of it, and the stairs that look more like they belong in a Disney castle rather than in a hotel.

"Wait, are you sure we can actually afford this?" Skye asks, much to Ward's amusement.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. pays for all expenses when on undercover missions," he answers in the same monotonous voice he always uses when he's explaining something that he clearly thinks Skye should know by now.

Skye rolls her eyes, and trails after him, carrying her backpack with her while her eyes grow wider and wider, head turning from side to side with a childlike expression of wonder. Every once in a while, she lets out a tiny squeal of excitement that makes Ward's brow furrow in disapproval.

"Stop doing that," Ward suddenly chastises her in a low voice. "You're not supposed to draw attention to yourself."

Skye suppresses the urge to once again roll her eyes, clears her throat and does her best to look as unimpressed as she possibly can, arching her eyebrows at Ward in what can only be described as smug defiance, while he checks them in. He hands her the key card to her room and then motions for her to follow him.

"So, have you done this before?" Skye asks as she watches him push the button of the elevator.

"Couple of times," he answers, almost evasively.

"Must be fun," Skye muses out loud, more to herself than to Ward. "Going undercover, getting to spend the night in a fancy hotel, in a city where no one knows who you are…"

Ward makes a rather non committal noise, but before he gets the chance to say something, the elevator dings and the doors open.

"What's the plan for tonight?" Skye asks, breaking the silence.

"No plans," Ward answers. "Just lay low and _don't draw attention_ to yourself."

"Yeah, I heard you twice the first time," Skye mutters as they both get out of the elevator.

Ward walks with her down the hall and silently gestures with his head towards the door of her room, which is right opposite his, and without saying a single word, he disappears into his room, leaving Skye to her own devices.

**xxx**

Three and a half hours later, boredom is driving Skye up the wall.

She's cracked the hotel's wifi password, checked all her online sources for any possible sightings of their suspect, found absolutely nothing, and now she's lying on her stomach on the bed, watching some random Youtube video of a cat that can't stop sneezing.

"This is so not what I signed up for," she sighs as she rolls on her back and stares blankly at the ceiling. It only takes five more minutes of deafening silence and then she practically bounces off the bed, a determined look on her face.

"Oh, screw it."

**xxx**

Exactly thirty minutes later, she's down at the hotel bar, dressed in a black tank top with skinny jeans and high heels boots, lazily drinking a margarita, while watching a group of men play poker a few tables away from where she's sitting.

She's seriously considering joining them, just to try her luck and to kill some time, when she's pulled out of her thoughts by a familiar, stern voice.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Skye's head snaps up and she lets out a soft, protesting groan when her eyes meet Ward's.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" she says between gritted teeth. "I was bored."

Ward pinches the bridge of his nose in an attempt to gather the last remaining shreds of patience he has left after a really, really long day, and then pulls out a chair and sits next to her.

Skye instantly tenses, eyes narrowing suspiciously at him.

"I never said the seat wasn't taken."

Ward rolls his eyes, actually _rolls his eyes_, at her, and turns around to call for the waitress, ignoring Skye's glare. He orders a drink whose name Skye's never heard before, and then turns his attention back to her.

His eyes scan her outfit, from the skimpy tank top she's wearing to the boots, and then back up, making Skye squirm on her seat under his scrutinizing look.

"What?" she snaps, cheeks suddenly burning with heat.

"Nothing," he answers without taking his eyes off of her.

Skye gulps down the remaining of her margarita, and when the waitress comes back to leave Ward's drink on the table, she wastes no time ordering another for herself. Ward eyes her curiously, but knows better than to voice his opinion.

He doesn't let her out of his sight, though, eyes fixed on her with an intense look that Skye can't quite pinpoint, but that sets every inch of her body abuzz.

She doesn't hesitate in calling the waitress and ordering several rounds of shots after that.

She has a feeling she'll need them.

**xxx**

When Skye wakes up the next morning, she notices two things.

First, the pounding in her head is _killing_ her.

Second, the thing she's been sleeping so comfortably on, turns out to be a living human being. Or that much she can tell, judging by the rise and fall that indicates that said person is breathing under her.

What the hell.

Skye stirs and awkwardly tries to shift in an attempt to move away, only to be pulled back in by the pair of firm, strong arms that are tightly wrapped around her body.

Her very much _naked_ body.

She finally opens her eyes, wincing at the excessive brightness that enters through the room's window (is it a room? She really can't tell, let alone even remember how she got there), and then tilts her head up, a soft squeak escaping her when she realizes who she's been with the whole time.

"Ward?!"

Ward lets out a noise of protest and tightens his grip around Skye's body, blissfully oblivious to their current situation, no doubt due to his raging hangover.

So it's not until Skye forcefully shoves him away, that he finally opens his eyes and stares at her for a second too long, until it dawns on him that something isn't quite right.

"…Skye?"

"Uh, yeah," Skye answers hesitatingly, unsure of what else to say or if she's actually supposed to offer some sort of explanation. Not that she has one, anyway.

She chances one more glance at Ward's utterly confused face and quickly wraps a sheet around her body before standing up and beginning to move around the room, trying to gather her discarded clothes.

"I'll just… get dressed and I'll be on my way," she says.

Ward rubs his eyes and nods, far too confused and too hungover to even try to understand what is going on.

Suddenly, Skye comes to a halt in her movements and freezes on the spot, eyes fixed on her hand with a blank stare.

Ward notices and frowns. "Skye? What's wrong?"

Well, isn't that a stupid question, he thinks, and inwardly winces, but Skye remains rooted in place, seemingly not having heard him.

Ward sits up on the bed, trying hard to push aside the wave of nausea that hits him, and slowly gets up, making his way to where Skye is standing, still weirdly staring at her hand.

Without saying a single word, Ward takes her hand in his and examines it, trying to figure out what's so damn fascinating about it.

And then he sees it.

A gold wedding ring on Skye's finger.


	2. Chapter 2

"So," Skye says, breaking the silence. "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas, right?"

They've been driving for nearly two hours (well, Ward has, Skye's gladly taken the co-pilot role for this one) after Coulson called off the mission when their suspect mysteriously disappeared during the previous night without anyone noticing it. They were to meet with the rest of the team in some airfield, located approximately three hours away from the hotel they'd been staying at.

Ward glares at Skye for a moment and then frowns his typical frown.

"How are you not freaking out over this?" he asks, genuinely surprised.

Once the initial shock had worn off, Skye had been acting rather calmly about the whole situation, insisting that it wasn't really a big deal and that stranger things had happened before. Ward didn't dare to ask. He didn't want to know.

"It could've been worse," Skye answers.

"_How?_"

"I could've ended up in some random, creepy dude's bed," Skye shrugs, casually. Almost _too_ casually. "At least with you, I know I'm safe."

Ward swallows but doesn't answer. Just the thought of what could've happened, the thought of Skye waking up, naked and hungover, in some stranger's bed after blacking out, is enough to make him sick to his stomach. And for the second time that morning, he finds himself fighting off a wave of nausea.

Thankfully, Skye's turned her head away from him and is absentmindedly staring at the road through the window, so she's momentarily (and blissfully) oblivious.

"We can't tell anyone," Ward finally manages to say after a long pause.

"I figured that much. You know, you may want to…," Skye trails off, nodding towards Ward's hand. He turns to look at her and then follows her gaze, his eyes setting on the gold wedding ring that's on his finger.

Right.

He quickly takes it off and shoves it inside his pocket.

"Where's yours?" he asks.

Skye grins and points to the silver chain that's around her neck and partially hidden below her shirt. She holds it up so Ward can see the ring hanging from it, along with some other random charm.

He stares at it for a second and then sighs.

"Coulson is going to kill me," he mutters, and Skye just laughs, _actually laughs_ at him.

The nerve.

"Don't worry, Ward. I wouldn't let AC kill my husband."

Ward nearly chokes on air at that, and Skye raises her eyebrows questioningly at him, a clear hint of amusement in her eyes.

"What?" she asks innocently, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Nothing," he answers, tightening his grip on the steering wheel and fixing his eyes on the road in front of him.

There's no way in hell he's ever going to admit to her how damn _good_ the word 'husband' sounds on her lips.

**xxx**

Despite the fact that Skye had assured him that it would only take about forty minutes tops to hack into the system and delete all evidence of them ever getting married, neither of them counted on Coulson nearly cornering Skye as soon as they set foot on the BUS, claiming to need her to cross reference some data from their latest mission.

"No problem," Skye says. "Just give me half an hour to take a shower, and then I'll be ready to roll."

"You're fine," Coulson says. "The shower can wait. This is more important."

"Okay. You're the boss, AC." Skye glances in Ward's direction and shrugs before trailing after Coulson.

**xxx**

Skye spends nearly the entire afternoon holed up in Coulson's office, and by the time she finally emerges, it's already too late and she's too exhausted to deal with anything else.

Divorce will have to wait until the next morning.

**xxx**

It's noon when Ward walks into the lounge and finds Skye curled up on the couch. She lifts her head and motions for him to sit down next to her.

"Here," Skye says, placing her laptop on Ward's lap.

"What's this?"

"I managed to hack into the system. _Finally_," Skye explains, rolling her eyes. "All you have to do is click on that little button over there, and you will be officially single again."

Ward stares at the screen in front of him while his finger hovers over the touchpad. One click and that's it. They will be able to put it all behind, forget about it and pretend it never happened.

One click and it will all be over.

Except…

He shuts down Skye's computer and sets it aside, far away from her reach.

"What are you doing?" she asks, eyes wide. "It took me like a freaking _hour_ just to hack into the root account and create a buffer overflow!"

Ward shakes his head not even bothering on trying to understand, and shifts on the couch until he's facing Skye. She's blatantly glaring at him, but he doesn't recoil. Instead, he gently takes her face in his hands, cradling it like it's the most precious thing in the world to him (_it is_), leans in and kisses her.

It's a slow, tentative kiss at first, that soon enough has Skye climbing into Ward's lap as he kisses her harder and deeper, all caution thrown to the wind the second she kissed him back with the same force.

When they finally pull apart, they're both breathless, hearts pounding in their chests as they stare wide eyed at eachother.

"I know we're doing it all backwards," Ward says, pressing his forehead against hers. "But would you go out with me? We can figure out what to do later."

Skye bites down on her bottom lip and nods.

"What about the divorce?" she asks.

Ward chuckles at the word, and tenderly tucks some loose strands of hair behind her ear, taking his time to kiss the tip of her nose before answering.

"How about…," he says, slowly. "We give this marriage thing a shot, first?"

"Skye Ward?" she asks, raising her eyebrows and smirking. "I can get used to that."


End file.
